DMT, The Vine of the Soul and the Ayahuasca Experience

Tuesday 24 May 2016

Ayahuasca is a brew containing a psychedelic compound DMT used in religious ceremonies to promote healing and spiritual awakening, and it’s consumed in South American countries such as Peru, Colombia and Brasil during Ayahuasca retreats.

Traditionally Shamans lead the Ayahuasca ceremony in a place called “maloka”, the main ceremonial building or temple.

Ayahuasca tea is brewed using a mix of ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi) and chacruna (Psychotria viridis). The Ayahuasca plant is considered illegal in some countries, including the United States.1
It is also part of a genus of herbs similar to Mimosa. This particular herb group is known for “mimicking conscious life” 2

Ayahuasca Effects

Ayahuasca works to help heal the brain from past trauma. It supposedly works to pull out the memories and traumas of the past, allowing the person to move on from them in a way that not many other drugs can. It opens up the centers of the brain that control memory storage and release. It will hyper-stimulate certain spots in the brain to release the bad memories and help the person to heal their mind. 3

Life after Ayahuasca

After using Ayahuasca, some people report being more open to new experiences. They also may suggest that they see things that have occurred in the past in a different way. That is because Ayahuasca opens up the parts of the brain that can activate the amygdala. That part of the brain stores some of our most early difficult memories. It also opens up our perception centers between the emotional responses we have and our ability to make rational decisions.4

Ayahuasca Before and After

Before someone decides to take Ayahuasca, they may be going through a variety of emotional problems and feel that they have no way out of them. The person may then turn to using the Ayahuasca plant to release them of those problems.
Many people who decide to take Ayahuasca do so to release some kind of trauma or to get rid of a disorder such as depression and anxiety. One woman recounts an experience where after taking the herb she felt her depression, which she described as severe seemed to have completely vanished. 5

The Ayahuasca Experience

The use of Ayahuasca is often done in a group of people and Shamans. It is almost never used by an individual with no supervision. The reason for this is that the Ayahuasca plant is a powerful hallucinogen that is thought to bring visions or other similar experiences. 6

Shortly after taking the brew, there are a variety of effects that present themselves. People will become quite ill. In fact, they will start to vomit and have loose bowels to the point of diarrhea. This all occurs because of the type of herb Ayahuasca is.

Conclusion

The Ayahuasca herb has been used for many years to induce feelings of health and well being for many people. Taken under the direct supervision of a shaman, it may give benefits of mental healing and clarity. It is important for any person considering the use of Ayahuasca to know the effects it can have on the body and mind. The taking of this herb is not to be done lightly. It has potential pharmacological benefits that have yet to be studied. It very well may be that Ayahuasca and the Ayahuasca ceremony or experience may reach beyond the boundaries of Peru and South America. We will just have to wait and find out.